A Peacock Husband of Five Princesses by day, a Noble Assassin by Night

A chop was given to her head right away. "Stop messing around and leave. Find out the strongest one behind this. Eliminate them if they are weaker than you. Then, run back to my mindscape if they turn out to be stronger."

"Ouch…" Sith rubbed her head and puffed her cheeks. "Fine."

The vampire gave a nod and jumped down the back of the Pegasus, instantly disappearing into a blur.

Kael turned his focus forward and closed his eyes for a heartbeat. He took a few deep breaths and snapped his eyes open, turning serious.

"Let's roll, Ignis."

*neigh*

The pegasus neighed low and guttural, flames ignited around him as Ignis reared back. The beast breathed out the sea of flames as it descended to maintain a lower altitude.

"SSSSAAAAHH!!"

"RRAAAAA!!"

"KRAAAAH—!!"

Undead shrieked, their bodies crackling and bursting into smoke as Kael passed overhead.

Cut to: Ground

"These damned undead…"

Shiera sliced through the air with a deadly arc, cleaving a ghoul clean in half.

She rolled forward, ducking a skeletal claw, and spun into a counterattack, cleanly severing its spine.

"Mia, support on the right! Orin, don't overextend! Stick with us."

"I know, but this swarm of undead is just too many," Orin bellowed, smashing his axe into the chest of an armored zombie.

Mia leapt beside Shiera, casting a wide arc of flames. The blast vaporized a cluster of undead and shielded an injured solo adventurer who was about to be bitten by a moving corpse with rotting flesh.

"Thanks." The young man took his shield from the ground, strapping it tightly around his arm.

"What are you doing here alone?" Orin helped him get up.

The young man was depressed, his head hung down. "My team was annihilated."

"Can you move?" Shiera asked.

The young man looked at her, dazed by her beauty for a second, but then said. "Ye… Yes."

"Good, follow us for now."

Cut to: Sky

Kael pulled Ignis into a spiral, launching a stream of fire directly onto a cluster of rotting flesh corpses that surrounded the town's eastern gate.

"Ugh… it looks like everyone here was annihilated. Okay, let's blow up everything at once."

"Ignis, Flame Tornado."

With a command, Ignis flapped its wings faster and faster while breathing out flames. A mini tornado enveloped the undead, burning them all down, their smoldering remains scattering across the road.

"No sign of a necromancer," Kael muttered, eyes scanning rooftops and towers. "Let's hope Sith will find the mastermind."

As if Cleo was waiting for him to utter those words, its voice echoed in his head just a couple of seconds later. "The vampire found something at the graveyard and was chasing someone to the west."

"Alright, let's go and put an end to this madness."

Cut to: Sith

Sith raced along the rooftops, her cloak billowing as she avoided the gaze of wandering undead. Down below, a cloaked figure was moving at blurring speeds on the streets, constantly glancing at the rooftops.

Under the cloak, there was a half-lich, half-human that created this whole mess, running across the streets, his expression ugly. "Damn it. How in the world did this place attract this monster? A vampire lord, seriously? Ugh… I hope there's no other surprise. Or else, Lady Freya will not be able to accomplish the task. Ugh… It's been hours. How is that we still haven't collected enough souls…"

Meanwhile, on the rooftop, where Sith was closely chasing after her, Sith let out a mischievous grin. "Let's see where you run, my fellow undead."

Cut to: Skies Above the Western Quarter

Kael guided Ignis higher, keeping a wide arc of flame rolling behind them, cleansing the streets.

Suddenly, the heat around him shifted, not from Ignis.

A gust of wind surged in from his east, and Kael's eyes snapped toward the sound of thundering wings.

A massive drake, slate-gray and armored in enchanted scale plating, swooped in. Riding it was a figure clad in elegant, violet-black leather armor, a long halberd strapped to his back. His cloak flapped like wings of its own.

Beneath them, a skilled team of adventurers encircled a Death Knight and a Lich, whose skeletal armies crashed into their defenses like a tide.

Kael narrowed his eyes. "Well-coordinated. Looks like a team with experience. But too many members to be a part of a mercenary team. They belong in a guild, and they did atleast medium-scale dungeon raids for sure. But it seemed like they were a bit weak. Even against a mere Tier-7 Death Knight and Lich, they are struggling. So, either it is not a top guild, or this is just one of the teams of a famed guild. Capital is far away from here. So, chances are high that they must be based on Everlight City, which, if Shiera was right, is like 200-300 kilometers from this place. Now, should I lend a hand to them?"

Just as he was about to descend to assist, the drake snarled, baring its jagged, obsidian-like teeth at Ignis.

The latter immediately flared its wings in response, letting out a threatening whinny. As its flames once again turned darker, the drake's eyes flashed in anger.

The drake trembled by Ignis' aura, turned its body completely to face the beast that was threatening its territory.

"Whoa, whoa!" the rider called out, pulling his reins.

The drake calmed, though its eyes still gleamed with fury. Its dragon bloodline is screaming for a fight, not knowing that its enemy can just kill it in one strike.

The rider called over the wind, his voice steady and slightly annoyed. "Apologies. My beast doesn't take kindly to unfamiliar fliers that threaten its domain. Can you please leave? I request."

Kael gave a half-smile. "Well, in that case, I'll be on my way. Good luck."

The rider gave a curt nod, not even offering a name.

Kael turned Ignis away, though his eyes lingered a moment longer on the battlefield below. The adventurers seemed like they were able to keep up with Death Knight's speed and Lich's constant undead summoning.

"I tried to help. If they don't want it, I can't help it. They are not civilians anyway." Kael thought. He and Ignis swept westward.

Cut to: Ground.

As a bunch of skeletons crumbled into bones under a barrage of fire spells, one of the ground adventurers watched Kael's retreating form.

"That guy on the fire pegasus… he looked kinda familiar, didn't he?"

A grizzled, older mage glanced up. His eyes narrowed. "Familiar? That wasn't just anyone." He turned to the others. "That's the Queen's son-in-law."

The entire squad froze. "Wait—what? That trash of Moonstone House?"

"You sure?"

"Yeah," the older mage said. "I went to their wedding banquet."

A murmur rippled among them.

*Scraaa*

The Death Knight's roar once again drew their attention back to the battle. They continued to fight.

Above, the drake circled once, and its rider muttered under his breath, eyebrows furrowed.

"The Queen's son-in-law…? Since when did that trash tame a divine beast? Isn't he a weak one that couldn't even kill a boar in the wild and a peacock husband that depends on his wives? Did the Queen provide him?"

His gaze mildly shifted to where Kael had been going earlier. Kael and his Infernal Pegasus were gone.